


Glorious Dawn

by ladymac111



Series: The Doctor and the Teacher [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Not RPF, halfway real-people inspired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-03
Updated: 2013-01-03
Packaged: 2017-11-23 12:10:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/621983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladymac111/pseuds/ladymac111
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU: In which two English gentlemen meet each other.<br/>One of them is a teacher in an English primary school and the other is The Doctor.</p><p>Starring: Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch</p><p>(photo and link to prompt in Ch 1)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Two notes I want to get out of the way:
> 
> 1\. This is my first Doctor Who fic, though I've recently marathoned the first four seasons (series) of New Who. I'm pretty sure I get the mechanics of the universe. This Doctor is not any Doctor we've seen on TV. He is entirely new. No Rose, no Martha, no Donna, no Ponds. Maybe Sarah Jane? Who knows. It probably won't come up.
> 
> 2\. While I am a science teacher, I teach high school in America, and not primary school in England. So everything regarding that is made up and may or may not resemble reality. But I'm the author, it's my deus ex machina, I do what I want!

Image and prompt by [justonelasttrick](http://justonelasttrick.tumblr.com/post/39083372510/au-in-which-two-english-gentlemen-meet-each).

* * *

There was a gentle knock at the classroom door. “Come in.”

The door opened, and the teacher turned to regard the strange man who stepped in, looking around with interest at the half-full boxes and half-empty walls.

The teacher pulled the last staple out of his poster of the Crab Nebula, tucked the staple remover in his pocket, and lowered himself to sit on the edge of his desk. “Oh, hello, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Mr Lassiter. Er, Timothy Lassiter. Just Tim now, I guess.”

The stranger shot him a curious look before returning to his inspection of the remaining posters. “Hello Tim.”

The teacher shifted uncomfortably, but didn’t hop down off the edge of his desk. He tapped the heels of his shoes against it. “Um. Can I help you, mister …?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” The stranger stepped over and extended his hand in greeting, and Tim took it on reflex. “I’m the Doctor.”

Tim laughed nervously. “Sorry, Doctor who?”

The other man smirked. “Just the Doctor.” He let go of Tim’s hand and looked around the room pointedly. “It always makes me sad, seeing a classroom come apart.”

“Er, yes.” Tim cleared his throat. “Can I help you, Doctor?”

“Pity, this school,” the Doctor said, seeming to ignore his question completely. “And a bit weird, them suddenly letting it go so early in the term. Not to mention rude to the teachers.”

“Yes, quite. But that’s politics for you.”

“Hm, politics, yes.” The Doctor turned away from Tim, and ran his fingers over the tabletops as he strolled towards the back of the room. “Everywhere you go, politics gets in the way of learning.” He sighed. “What about you then? No more Mr Lassiter, you said. What’re you planning to do?”

Tim opened his mouth a couple of times before he managed to speak. “I … I’m not sure. My sister offered to let me stay with her in London for a bit, until I can find something.”

“Teaching again?”

“Maybe. Though I was thinking I might go back to school, you know. Study astronomy like I always wanted.”

“Hm.” The Doctor studied the few remaining posters, all of celestial objects. “Why didn’t you before?”

“My dad said it wasn’t a proper career, astronomy. No practical use.” Tim shook his head, and set his feet on the floor. “Sorry, but what are you doing here? Surely there’s nothing interesting in a run-down primary school.”

The Doctor turned and regarded him with fathomless blue eyes. “That so? Because I think I may have found something.”

Tim was suddenly breathless. “Beg pardon?”

“I’m looking for a friend,” the Doctor said, and there was a wistful edge to his voice that made Tim feel a bit sad. “A travelling companion.”

“Travelling?” Tim couldn’t help but be interested; it was one of those other impractical things that he’d written off years ago. “Where to?”

The Doctor grinned mischievously. “Where would you like to go?” He stepped to the window, and the sunlight turned his hair to gold. “See that blue box?”

Tim looked – how had he not noticed it before? Sitting there in the park across the street, apparently so conspicuous as to be inconspicuous. “What is it?”

“It’s called the TARDIS. Time and relative dimension in space.”

Tim considered the words for a minute, then slowly turned to the man at his side. “Time … and space.”

“Precisely.” He moved toward the door, and gestured for Tim to follow. “Let me show you.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim joins the Doctor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't know the song "Glorious Dawn", [go listen to it right now](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc).

Tim pulled on his cardigan against the advancing autumnal chill, locked his classroom door behind them, and followed the Doctor across the street to the blue police box that sat in the middle of a path. He remembered seeing photos of boxes like this, police boxes, but they were long gone and he'd never seen one in person before.

The Doctor produced a key from the pocket of his waistcoat. “Now Tim,” he said, “what you're about to see … it's not going to make much sense, all right? But you're smart, and more than that, you've got an imagination. So keep an open mind, and no freaking out, okay?”

Freaking out? Tim nodded. “Okay.”

The Doctor gave him an unsure look as they stopped in front of the box, and tilted his chin up as Tim stepped close. “Bloody hell,” he muttered. “Big ears, still not ginger, and _short_.”

“Sorry, what?”

“Oh, nothing. Plenty of time for that later.” He put the key into the lock and turned it with a satisfying click. “Ready?”

Tim nodded, and the Doctor pushed the door open with a grin and a flourish. “The TARDIS.”

Tim's eyes grew wide with wonder and his mouth fell open as he stepped into the spacious interior. “Wow, it ...” He stopped, turned around suddenly, and dashed back outside, where he ran his hand around the entire perimeter of the blue wooden structure before poking his head back in, one hand still on the corner. “But, it ...” He looked at the Doctor in amazement. “It's bigger on the inside!”

The Doctor grinned. “Yeah, it is.”

“But … how? It can't be magic.”

“You've read Arthur C Clarke. I saw several of his novels on your desk.”

Tim looked confused for half a moment before realization dawned. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” He stepped into the TARDIS again. “So this … this isn't actually a police box, it's some sort of really advanced technology that only _looks_ like a police box on the outside.”

“See, I knew you were clever.” The Doctor strolled past him and leaned against a beam. “You had it before, even. The TARDIS is a vessel for travelling in space and time. Well, spacetime. You can handle a bit of general relativity. It's got a chameleon circuit so it can blend in wherever it lands.”

Tim chuckled. “The blue box hardly blends in.”

“Yeah, well.” He patted the big circular console in the centre. “Got stuck.”

“Can't you fix it?”

“Haven't ever seen the need, really.”

“To busy travelling, I suppose.” Tim breathed deeply and ran both hands through his dark hair as he turned around, taking in the interior of the TARDIS. “Seeing the universe. It's spectacular, isn't it?”

“You've no idea,” the Doctor said. “Want to?”

Blue eyes met blue eyes. “What, really?”

The Doctor laughed. “Honestly, Tim, you think I'd show you my spacetime machine and not offer to take you for a ride? I was serious when I asked where you wanted to go.”

“Gosh.” He blinked several times. “I mean … anywhere?”

“ _Anywhere._ ”

“Okay. Um.” He bit his lip as he considered. “Europa?”

The Doctor shrugged. “A bit tame. In the neighbourhood. But it'll do for a start, and kudos on the Clarke reference. Surface or orbit?”

“Er … surface?”

“Right! We're off, then.” The Doctor pushed the door shut, and went to the controls in the centre of the large space. “Hold on. Things might get a little bumpy; the old girl's not in the best of shape.”

Tim grasped a railing as bits of the TARDIS began to move and make a scraping, whirring sound. “We're really going to Europa?”

“We really are.” Everything lurched slightly, and Tim stumbled. “Just a quick hop. And --” one more small jolt “-- here we are.”

He stepped around to Tim's side and gestured to the door. “Would you like to do the honours?”

Eyes wide, Tim reached for the door handle, and his face filled with awe as he pulled it open and looked out over the frozen world. “Oh my god.” He stepped forward. “It's beautiful.”

“Woah, take it easy.” The Doctor grabbed his arm, and Tim stopped abruptly and looked at him. “You probably don't want to go out there. The TARDIS can protect us, but only so much.”

“It's really Europa,” Tim said. “Freezing cold, no air. Well. Not for humans.” He leaned and looked to the side, and inhaled sharply. “Jupiter's rising.”

They watched in silence for a long while, until finally Tim shivered slightly.

“Cold?”

“No, not really. Um. Awestruck, definitely. Humbled.” He looked at the Doctor. “And you do this _all the time_?”

The Doctor smiled fondly at him. “Well, not _all_ the time. This is only the beginning, Tim. A still more glorious dawn awaits.”

“Not a sunrise, but ...”

The Doctor closed the door with a grin. “Exactly.” He moved back to the controls. “Want to see some more?”

“A morning filled with four hundred billion suns.” Tim beamed. “Oh, god, yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characterization note: Tim and the Doctor are obviously (intentionally) based fairly heavily on the real-life personalities of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, to the extent that it's possible for me to “have a handle on them” based on interviews and such. Which is not actually a whole lot. You'll probably notice that the Doctor has a big dose of John Watson, and of course Nine and Ten. Tim has a bit of Martin Creiff with the best bits of Arthur Shappey, and a liberal helping of yours truly.
> 
> I have a teeny-tiny plot bunny for one further adventure (it's 150 words), and I am absolutely open to ideas.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to name the teacher Timothy Carlton but then I remembered that’s Benedict’s dad’s actual name, so I was thinking about Carlton and I thought of Detective Lassiter from Psych, and my brain went “Timothy Carlton Lassiter” and just left out the Carlton though Tim’s middle initial is probably C. Also I think calling him Tim is a great fake-out for “wait, is Martin the teacher? He was Tim on The Office” …
> 
> (And now that I thought to Google, turns out there are a couple of real people named Timothy Lassiter.)
> 
> "Carlton" got me thinking about Carl Sagan and that's where the title came from.


End file.
